Dumping-door for railway-cars.



APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13, 1909.

Patented Nov. 15, 1910.

INVENTOR WITNESSES rue NORRIS PETER'S co., wasnmarou, n. c.

EDGAR W. SUMMERS, 0F PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

PUMPING-DOOR FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. November 13, 1909. Serial No. 527,812.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR W. SUMMERS, a resident of Pittsburg, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Dumping-Doors for Railway-Cars, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to hopper bottom railway cars and moreparticularly to the door arrangement and operating mechanism therefor.

The object of the invention is to provide doors and door operatingmechanism for hopper bottom cars which enables the center of gravity ofthe loaded car to be carried quite low and nevertheless permit theopening of the doors without contacting with the track, and whichovercomes the frictional resistance due to the load resting on the doorwhen opening the latter.

The invention comprises the arrangement and combination of partshereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a longitudinal section througha portion of a hopper bottom car showing my invention applied thereto;Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken at the transverse center of the carand showing only one-half of the car; and Fig. 3 is a detail view of theoperating means at one end of the door.

The car may be of any suitable type provided with a bottom dischargeopening or openings. The car chosen for illustration is of metalconstruction, and is provided with a central transverse hood, or ridgeso as to form two discharge openings, each of which is closed by a pairof longitudinally arranged doors. This particular type of car, however,has been chosen for purposes of illustration merely, since the inventioncan be applied to transversely arranged doors as well as tolongitudinally arranged doors, or to a car having one or any otherdesired number of discharge openings.

In the drawings, one of the side walls of the car is indicated at l, thelower portion thereof sloping inwardly as at 2, and a sloping end wallor floor plate is shown at 3. The central transverse hood is indicatedat 4. These several parts may be constructed, united and braced orstiffened in any suitable way. As shown, there is a bottom dischargeopening 5 extending for the greater part of the width of the car bodyand from the end sloping floor plates 3 to the central transverse hood4:. 1

The opening 5 is closed by means of a pair of doors 6. Fig. 2 shows onlyone of the doors but it will be understood that the arrangement on theopposite side of the car is identical with that illustrated. These doorsas shown close inwardly at or toward the longitudinal central line ofthe car, and when in closed position, illustrated in full lines in Fig.2, are only slightly inclined from the horizontal. The door shown is ofmetal construction but, obviously, it may be of any desiredconstruction.

As shown, the door has secured to each of its ends a hanger 7 providedwith a roller 8 running on a track 9, one of said tracks be ing locatedunderneath the sloping end floor plates 3 and the other underneath thecentral transverse hood 4. The hangers are shown connected to the endsof the door near the inner edge of the latter but this is not absolutelynecessary, as they may be connected to the door in any position toeffectively support the latter. The tracks 9 eX- tend transversely ofthe car and curve slightly downwardly toward the sides of the car, sothat when the door moves outwardly to open position the rollers run downthe curved inclines, thereby dropping the door and freeing the same fromthe lading so as to relieve it from the frictional resistance of thelatter.

The outer edge of the door is supported, when the door is in closedposition, by the door opening and closing mechanism which is as follows:Secured to the outer corners of the door are brackets 10 to which arepivotally connected, as at 11, crank arms 12 secured on a longitudinallyarranged shaft 13 located underneath the sloping side plates 2. Theshaft 13 at its outer end is mounted in a suitable bracket 1 1 securedunderneath the sloping end floor plate 3, and underneath the hood saidshaft is mounted in a suitable bearing member 15. At the outer end ofthe shaft there is a simple crank arm 12, while beneath the hood thecrank arm 12 is integral with a worm wheel segment 16 which is engagedby a worm 17 on a transverse oper ating shaft 18 which extends out tothe side of the car and is squared or otherwise suitably shaped for theattachment of a wrench,

Patented Nov. v15, 191d.

crank or other rotating means. The shaft 13 may extend longitudinally ofthe car so as to operate all the doors on that side of the car, orseveral such shafts may be used and a similar shaft or shafts is locatedon the op-' posite side of the car to operate the doors on that side.The transverse shaft 18 preferably extends entirely across the car sothat it'may be operated from either side and so as to operate thelongitudinal shafts 13 on both sides of the car and secure asimultaneous dumping of all of the doors, or separate operating shaftsfor the two sides of the car may be. used.

It will be observed that the cranks 12, when the door is closed, areinclined inwardly toward the center line of the car and, consequently,during the first part of the opening movement of the car the cranks moveto a true vertical position thereby slightly lowering the outer edge ofthe door. The consequence is that the door as a whole in the first partof the opening movement drops perceptibly, so as to completely free thesame from the frictional resistance of the lading. After the cranks 12pass a true vertical position they begin to lift the outer edge of thedoor while the inner edge thereof is still being lowered, the door as awhole pivoting or rotating around a longitudinal axis represented by theaxes of the rollers S. The arrangement is such as to quickly andabruptly tip the door to permit the ready discharge of the lading. 111the opening movement of the door no part of the latter drops to anyconsiderable extent and conse quently, the doors can be carried veryclose to the track.

W hat I claim is:

1. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottom dischargeopening, a bodily movable door therefor, supports upon which said doormoves and arranged to lower one edge of the door as it moves to openposition, and a crank connected to the other edge of the door andserving to sup port said edge when the door is closed and to lift saidedge as the door moves to open position.

2. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottom dischargeopening, a bodily movable longitudinal door therefor closing toward thecenter line of the car, supports upon which said door moves, and a crankconnected to the outer edge of the door and serving to support said edgewhen the door is closed and also as a means for opening and closing thedoor.

3. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottom dischargeopening, a bodily movable longitudinal door therefor closing toward thecenter line of the car, a hanger connected to each end of the door,supports upon which said hangers move, and a crank connected to theouter edge of the door and serving to support said edge when the door isclosed and also as a means for opening and closing the door.

4. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottom dischargeopening, a bodily movable longitudinal door therefor closing towardthecenter line of the car, aroller on each end of the door, tracks onwhich said rollers move, and a crank connected to the outer edge of thedoor and serving to support said edge when the door is closed and alsoas a means for opening and closing the door- 5. A railway dump carcomprising a body provided with a bottom discharge opening, a bodilymovable door therefor, supports upon which said door moves, a crankconnected directly to the edge of the door at each end thereof, a shaftprovided with said cranks, and means for rotating said shaft.

6. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottom dischargeopening, a bodily movable door therefor, supports upon which said doormoves, a crank connected to each end of the door, a shaft provided withsaid cranks, an operating shaft, and a worm and worm wheel connectingsaid operating and crank shafts.

7. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottom dischargeopening, a bodily movable door therefor, supports upon which said doormoves, a crank connected to an edge of the door and serving to supportsaid edge when closed, and a rotary shaft carrying said crank, saidshaft being supported at the side of the door opening and above thedoor, whereby when said door is opened it is tilted.

8. A door for dump cars mounted to roll bodily toward open positionwithout raising its center of gravity at the initial movement, thesupporting mechanism for said door including a crank connected directlyto one edge of the door andarranged to lift said edge as the door rollsto open position, and mechanism for rolling said door.

9. An inclined bodily movable door for dump cars mounted to increase itsinclination when moved to open position, the supporting means for saiddoor including a crank connected directly to that edge of the door whichrises as the door moves to open position, and door moving mechanism.

10. A bodily movable door for dump cars, supporting means thereforarranged to increase the inclination of the door while opening andwithout lifting any part there of while underneath the dischargeopening, said supporting means including a crank connected directly tothat edge of the door which rises as it moves to open position, and doormoving mechanism.

11. A bodily movable door for dump cars, supports for said door arrangedto lower the door as the latter moves toward open position, and a crankconnected to the outer edge of the door and arranged to move the doorand lift said outer edge when opening.

12. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottomdischarge opening, bodily movable inclined doors therefor arranged tomeet edge to edge when closed, supports upon which said doors move soarranged as to lower one edge of each door as it moves to open position,and means connected to the opposite edge of each door and to the'carbody and suspending said edge and arranged to lift the same as the doormoves to open position.

13. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottomdischarge opening, bodily movable inclined longitudinal doors thereforclosing toward the center line of the car and meeting at their inneredges, supports upon which said doors move and arranged to lower theinner edges of the doors as they move to open position, and meansconnected to the car body and to the outer edge of each door andsuspending saitl outer edge and arranged to lift the same as the doormoves to open position.

14. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottomdischarge opening, a bodily movable longitudinal door therefor closingtoward the center line of the car, supports upon which said door movesand arranged as the door moves to open position to lower its inner edge,and a crank connected to the outer edge of the door and serving tosupport said edge when the door is closed and to lift said edge as thedoor moves to open position.

15. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottomdischarge opening, an inclined bodily movable longitudinal door thereforclosing toward the center line of the car, supports upon which said doormoves, and a crank connected to the outer edge of the door and servingto support said edge when the door is closed and to lift said edge asthe door moves to open position, and door moving mechanism.

16. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottomdischarge opening, an inclined bodily movable longitudinal doortherefor, supports upon which said door moves and arranged to lower oneedge of the door as it moves to open position, a longitudinal operatingshaft, and cranks thereon, one of said cranks being operativelyconnected to each end of the door.

17. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottomdischarge opening, an inclined bodily movable longitudinal doortherefor, supports upon which said door moves and arranged to lower theinner edge of the door as it moves to open position, and a longitudinaloperating shaft located near the outer edge of the door and providedwith a crank which is operatively connected to the outer edge of thedoor.

18. A railway dump car comprising abody provided with a bottom dischargeopening, bodily movable longitudinal doors closing toward the centerline of the car, supports upon which said doors move, cranks connectedto the outer edges of the doors and serving to support said edges whenthe doors are closed and to lift said edges as the doors move to openposition, and cross connecting mechanism operatively connecting saidcranks to cause them to move in unison.

19. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottomdischarge opening, bodily movable inclined longitudinal doors closingtoward the center line of the car and meeting at their inner edges,supports upon which said doors move and arranged to lower their inneredges as they move to open position, and means connected to the outeredges of the doors and to the car body and suspending said edges andarranged to lift the same as the doors move to open position.

20. A railway dump car comprising a body provided with a bottomdischarge opening, bodily movable inclined longitudinal doors closingtoward the center line of the car and meeting at their inner edges,supports upon which said doors move and arranged to lower their iimeredges as they move to open position, and cranks connected to the outeredges of the doors and serving to support said edges when the doors areclosed and to lift said edges as the doors move to open position.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

EDGAR V. SUMMERS. lVitnesses:

F. W. WINTER, J AS. L. WELDON.

